[TX] Can the university compel me to pay back a SCHOLARSHIP they paid me by mistake after I graduated?

Hello! TL;DR I graduated in December 2017 with no student loans thanks to some amazing scholarships. The school has now contacted me saying they gave me $5,000 worth of scholarships by mistake and now I owe it back. Do I have any chance of fighting the charge?

Every year of college in Texas, I submitted a university application for scholarships in January. I'd gotten some decent scholarships through the program, and while they never completely covered tuition, they helped a lot. In July 2017, I got an email saying I was being considered for a specific scholarship, they asked for proof of being employed, and I provided the information. Soon after, I was contacted again; I only was only registered for 11 hours, and needed 12 to be considered full-time and thus eligible. I explained that I was graduating in December, so I was exempt from any full-time requirements for scholarships and financial aid (I got this information from the scholarship office, which I'd asked this of before).

August rolled around, and I received a notification my financial aid had been adjusted. I logged in and I had qualified for a $10,000 scholarship, sponsored by an alumnus donor!! But it was listed as $5,000 for the Fall and $5000 for the Spring, while the rest of my financial aid had already been adjusted for December graduation.

Once school started at the end of the month, I went to the scholarship office to ask what was going to happen to the other $5,000; was I going to receive it or was it going to go to someone else? I was told that they were going to talk to the donor to see what they wanted to do. Maybe a couple of weeks later, I got another notification of adjustment, and saw that I had the entirety of the $10,000 listed for the Fall. SCORE! I got the money shortly after, and even went to two different scholarship banquets that the school threw for the donors to meet their donation's recipients for these types of scholarships (my donor never showed).

In March of this year, I had already moved across the country for a job. Between moving and living for a while without a job, I pretty much depleted the rest of the scholarship money, which I was incredibly grateful for because it meant I didn't have to go into debt. Then I got an email from the first people who contacted me about the scholarship:

"I am following up in reference to your adjustment for the [donor] Scholarship. Scholarships & Financial Aid removed the additional $5000 you received in the fall as the amount should have only been for $5000 and not $10,000. Your account should now show that you owe $5000 to the University. The balance will prevent you from obtaining any official transcript in the future if not resolved."

I replied:

"During my enrollment in the fall, I went to the scholarship office and spoke to someone there. At the time, I had received $5000 from the scholarship, and I asked about the other $5000. I was told that the scholarship office would contact the donors to talk about whether I would receive half of the scholarship or the full amount. Shortly afterward, the my Financial Award Offer letter was revised to include the rest of the funds, so I assume permission was received from the donors to disburse them. Please let me know if this was not the case."

They replied:

"It’s standard for Scholarships & Financial Aid to inquire of the donors to see if you can receive the full dollar amount of your scholarship if you are graduating in the fall. However, I’m thinking what might have happened is the “auto” letter that is set up in their system might have indicated you would be receiving the full $10,000 in the fall when indeed it should have only been for $5000. If there are ever any new awards or changes to your scholarship, you will receive an email directly from me with those updates."

I had no way of knowing that what the scholarship office said would not be correct. I went to the university this weekend for my friends' graduation and stopped by the emailer's office to talk about the issue, but the buildings were closed for graduation. I don't have $5,000 to pay this, and I feel quite robbed. Will anything happen if I don't pay it? Can it affect my credit? Is there any way I can fight it?

Thank you for reading my rant and for any help provided.

boredasshitrightnow 1531

Contact the Donor Alumnus and ask why you have to pay back the money they donated to the school despite it being confirmed going to you and Greatly helping your education.
Politely.
Like Knees to the ground politely.
There is a chance, they could resolve it with a call.

Take evidence of the confirmation to your FA office.

Unic0rnusRex 354

It may also help to contact the university ombudsman. They can be very helpful in sorting out issues across departments when you exhaust all other avenues with the dept itself.

CritterTeacher 21

I wish I knew that 6 years ago. Oh well, I’ll file it away to add to future college advice-giving.

thinkdeep 97

This. This right here.

Hey, listen!

This right here. They won't want to risk alumni donations.

karendonner 76

It could also backfire, if donor calls university and says "what's this I hear about y'all giving my money to someone who's already graduated?"

kinderdemon 182

Donors are usually by default on the side of students and by default suspicious of the uni of mismanaging their donation (often with good cause)

rocketman0739 64

What do you mean? OP says they got notified of the $10k scholarship in August of '17 and did not graduate until December.

karendonner -16

Wrong, alas. They were notified in August, but it was for the current academic year. OP graduated in December.

From the OP:

it was listed as $5,000 for the Fall and $5000 for the Spring, while the rest of my financial aid had already been adjusted for December graduation.

The OP goes on to say that s/he did in fact graduate in December.

crazybmanp 36

yea... and he got the money in the fall. which is before december.

Crisis_Redditor -21

But it was apparently earmarked for fall and spring, and they weren't there for spring. They may be seeing that as having been given in error.

crazybmanp 41

but if you read... it got moved to just fall.

misspiggie -10

Wrong, alas. They were notified in August 2017, but it was for the current academic year of August 2017-May 2018. OP graduated in December 2017. . . .The OP goes on to say that s/he did in fact graduate in December 2017.

FTFY. Edits in bold.

karendonner -2

You didn't fix anything. You're just not getting it. It was a $10,000 year-long scholarship for the school year 2017-2018. OP graduated at the end of 2017. Was happily surprised to see that s/he was getting money for the semester immediately subsequent to graduation (the spring 2018 semester). Was not so happily surprised when school said "um, wait, you aren't actually in school, we shouldn't have paid you the second half." The facts are clear. Right from the thread's title.

Now, some people have argued that the balance of a year-long scholarship is often paid regardless of a mid-year graduation. That is not my experience and I don't have the terms of this particular award before me. But the OP has repeatedly stated that s/he would only be in school for half the scholarship's term and that s/he inquired as to whether the balance of the award would be paid due to the fact that s/he was graduating, that s/he was pleasantly surprised to discover she would be getting money post-graduation (which s/he used for non-academic expenses) and that s/he later learned the money was paid by mistake.

Lacking a time-turner, none of these facts are altered by you hopping up and down on the Internets.

misspiggie 23

another notification of adjustment, and saw that I had the entirety of the $10,000 listed for the Fall. SCORE! I got the money shortly after,

OP was paid the second half (in other words, the entire thing) while OP was still in school, Fall semester.

Then, OP graduated during the Fall semester. All money was received while in school.

karendonner -28

The Fall semester. Starts in August. Ends in December.

The Spring semester. Starts in January. Ends ... right about now, or in the next month or so. That's why they call it the spring semester. How are you not getting this?

justmyluck_tw 24

But it was listed as $5,000 for the Fall and $5000 for the Spring, while the rest of my financial aid had already been adjusted for December graduation.

...

Maybe a couple of weeks later, I got another notification of adjustment, and saw that I had the entirety of the $10,000 listed for the Fall.

misspiggie 15

OP received all the money, which was for the Fall semester, during the Fall semester.

The Spring semester. Starts in January. Ends ... right about now, or in the next month or so. That's why they call it the spring semester. How are you not getting this?

Maybe you can explain what exactly this axiom has to do with anything? Or better yet, show me where OP says they received money while they were not in school?

rocketman0739 10

The original assignment of funds was as you say: $5k each for fall and spring. You would be correct if it had stopped there.

But, as OP says and as has been quoted to you, the assignment changed so that OP was assigned $10k for fall and nothing for spring.

karendonner -3

The original assignment of funds was as you say: $5k each for fall and spring. You would be correct if it had stopped there.

The thing is, you get that, but it's pretty clear that some of the responders don't ... and I never said differently.

However, your second statement has the potential to be wrong, which is all I was saying in the first place. Why? Because the school has come back and said that was in error. OP accepts that they were in error. (It's right there in the title. BY MISTAKE.) And it would make sense that it would be by mistake. OP expected the award to be split by semester and was surprised it wasn't. Other financial aid was split due to the OP's mid-year graduation rate.

Many people have advised OP to go to the donor and say "hey they didn't give me all your money." I was only pointing out that there's a potential for that to backfire. The donor might not be happy to find his generosity, which was intended to fund a full academic year, instead went to someone who was only going to be there half the year.

OP has already graduated, so the donor could very well be curious as to why someone who already has a degree was given money for a semester for which they were not enrolled.

I am really pretty stunned that so many people didn't understand my original post. It was a scholarship. Not a move-across-the-country-and-get-a-new-jobship. Maybe the donor would be cool with it, but I would not be shocked (and OP should be prepared) for the potential that the donor would respond by being angry at the school for being so careless with their funds.

boredasshitrightnow 42

Anything left from financial aid is often given to the recipient.

WakeAndTake 4

Not my experience at all with any of my scholarships. I graduated in 3 years and was given a tip of the cap and nothing more from them for completing ahead of schedule, including the extra year not paying summer school for the 2 cheaper terms I did between. Let’s not act like these are guaranteed checks

HephaestusHarper 25

They gave it to her for her last term before graduation, not after she graduated.

rudbek-of-rudbek 3

I really REALLY like this idea. Come off as an innocent wide eyes youth that was greatly helped by their generosity. But now the University is trying to take it away and you don't know what to do. It's his/her money after all. I think this is a good way to side step the University.

ObnoxiousOldBastard 2

This seems like excellent advice to me, & by far the most likely way to resolve the situation in your favour, OP.

biblioteqa 1324

"I'm thinking what might have happened ..."? How about you, Mr. Scholarship Office Person, find out for sure exactly what really happened instead of guessing, and do it before you start trying to reclaim monies from me? For example, did your office actually talk to the donor? What was the outcome? A notification of adjustment should never be an 'auto' letter, so somebody made an adjustment; who, exactly, adjusted it, when, and on what authority?

I_am_a_mountainman 482

This seems to me to be excellent advice. The reply you got is very wishy-washy and seems to be deliberately vague, which means they probably have no idea what happened OR they are covering a fuck-up on their end. You need them to, for want of a better term, specifically "accuse you" or "inform you" of the problem before you can rectify it.

Downvotes-All-Memes 60

specifically "accuse you" or "inform you"

I am kind of hot headed and quick to judge, but I have rarely outright accused someone of doing something against me (especially not legally, just like friends losing shit, borrowing my stuff, small time "crime").

But once with an ex-roommate/friend, they considered me to be taking advantage of them when it came to splitting rent. I told them we had written and verbal agreements and had been friends for a long time, that if they wanted to accuse me of something like that, they better just do it outright.

They backed down, of course, because it was bullshit. Not trying to be an r/toughguy or anything, but being direct and asking them to accuse me or move on with their life helped put an end to the ambiguity of the situation.

MrVictorianPainting 172

To add to this, you should remind them that you're a potential donor yourself for the next 60 or so years. If they pursue this they might get $5000 back now but they'll lose out on any money you might donate in the future.

mgsbigdog 97

This is definitely the University being penny wise and pound foolish. It is not worth pissing off 1) an existing university donor and 2) a potential university donor over only $5,000. Time for them to reconsider.

BONG_OF_JUSTICE 125

Obligatory NAL, but I work in Higher Education fundraising (big $$$, not annual fund level). This scenario is a nightmare for a university development office - mismanaging a major gift donor's funds like this is a great way to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in the IMMEDIATE future. Major gift alumni donor networks at universities talk, and if word gets out that their money isn't being stewarded properly (especially a gift that is supposed to go to meet a student's immediate needs - this isn't like a facilities gift that was supposed to pay for brick sidewalks and contractors laid down concrete), the donor is going to likely be livid, and tell their friends to cancel their pledges.

/u/justmyluck_tw, I'd advise sending an email off to leadership at your university's development office. Politely inform them that you were the recipient of a scholarship funded by one of their donors and that you now have concerns that financial aid is not using the money appropriately, and are now demanding you pay back a part of the scholarship. If they aren't a set of incompetent morons, I'd bet you'll have Dev breathing fire down the back of financial aid within the week.

justmyluck_tw 21

I will try this, thank you!

The alumnus whose scholarship I was awarded is kind of a big deal so I'm hoping that'll help my case.

BONG_OF_JUSTICE 20

Of course! I hope they are able to help you clear this up. I will warn you the Development is similar to HR in that they are very conscious of being “on message” for the university, so be precise with your language, especially if the donor is a big fish capable of six or seven figure gifts - they’re likely to circle the wagons with financial aid if they think you’re trying to cause a PR nightmare. A little flattery wouldn’t be remiss - something along the lines of the gift being transformative in allowing you to complete your education debt free, and how thankful you were to be a recipient, how you just want to honor the spirit of the scholarship and the donor’s wishes, etc etc.

justmyluck_tw 16

You are such a life saver. I found the Development website for the university. Would emailing the 'vice president for principal gifts' be appropriate? I figure the executive staff are too high up the chain and the support staff are too low? There is one lady that's 'director of development operations' in the support staff category. Sorry about all the questions, this is very new territory for me.

BONG_OF_JUSTICE 8

Don’t apologize!!! You are the injured party here, I want to make sure you bring this to the right people’s attention to get this resolved. Has the donor in question named any buildings on campus or done any other sort of highly publicized gift? ‘Principal gifts’ is a designation used by schools for the very highest tier donations - usually $1M or higher, depending on the school and the average gift size. PG fundraisers are usually busy, so I’d be concerned your email wouldn’t warrant an immediate response, esp because the scholarship is $10K (small pennies to them), unless the donor has made gifts at that level, in which case I would include that person on the email, as well as the people I suggest below.

Do you remember who you spoke with regarding attending the scholarship awards dinner? I would email them and the director of Donor Relations (might be called Stewardship or something similar at your university), as it is their job to keep donors happy and informed about how their money is being spent once the check has been cashed. They’re probably the ones who will be responsible for putting out this fire.

shangered 7

LPT: Never donate to your own school - especially the big schools that get millions in funding and funnel it all to sports and/or middle management/CEO bonuses.

lizzistardust 57

Absolutely, this “thinking what might have happened” stuff is BS. I strongly suspect this person is trying to cover their butt after not going through proper procedures. (In any case, it doesn’t sound like it would have been an “auto letter” anyway if it was an adjustment to the original award letter. THAT is the one that would be automatically generated.)

OP, did you save a copy of the award letter that that stated the full $10,000 was being made available to you that semester? If this doesn’t get resolved with the person who emailed you, go to her supervisor and be sure to have that award letter to show, as well as a copy of her emails with the date stamps showing.

ElMachoGrande 50

Yep. OP did not misrepresent any facts or do anything wrong. Their error, their problem. They are just hoping that OP is gullible and that he might be pursuaded into handing back the money, fishing for an easy solution for them.

hankbaumbach 5

Seriously, I want to enact some kind of rule or law whereby if an entity comes after an individual for an amount of money and that individual spends their free time and effort correcting the entity's mistake, the individual should be entitled to something like 10% of what they were accused of owing as recompense for wasting the individual's precious free time.

If nothing else, the entity gets their story straight before they start asking people for money.

EEJR 710

Short answer: if you have a letter stating you were receiving 10k, then you should receive 10k, unless there is some fine print in any policy the university has to revoke scholarships.

josephdk23 315

If I remember correctly I thought donations were legally enforceable even if the donor backs out. Someone should correct me if I’m wrong but I remember something I business law about schools being able to sue you and potentially win if you tell them you’ll donate an amount of money and don’t.

austizim 309

Justifiable reliance under the umbrella of promissory estoppel. You’re correct.

Jubenheim 70

This is the kind of legal advice people should come here for. Hope OP's paying attention to this.

justmyluck_tw 29

I am!

Clemen11 48

Justifiable reliance under the umbrella of promissory estoppel.

This is why I didn't go to law school.

2_hearted 23

I'm sure if this was written in English we would know exactly what it meant...

barbarbarbarbarbarba 30

The English version is long and complicated.

2_hearted 4

Hahaha

expremierepage 15

It's the idea that you can't go back on a promise when someone's (justifiably) relying on you to make good on it.

Like if you get a job offer and quit your current job, only for the new place to rescind their offer without a good reason (thereby leaving you without a source of income), the new place may owe you compensation.

That's at least the ELI5 gist of it.

2_hearted 2

Thanks buddy!

c3534l 9

It means "no take backsies."

2_hearted 2

This is some legal jargon I can get behind.

eitanym 82

Rising 2L here. The other replies are correct but just want to add my contracts professors caveat that while universities can sue their donors, they generally don't because that's a surefire way to not get more donations.

josephdk23 22

Completely true. I was wondering if it could working for OP because it sounds like the alumni made a donation through the school to OP and then backed out. Would promissory estoppel still work or does it have to be a non profit or charitable organization?

justmyluck_tw 15

I don't think the alumni backed out, because they've been making this same donation every year for a long time. I think the scholarship office just made a mistake and is trying to make me pay for it.

eitanym 12

It's not restricted to non-profits and charitable organizations but without more facts regarding how the scholarship is administered, it's hard to say whether OP has a claim against the donor.
More likely OP would have a claim against the university because he relied on the money (based on the university's communications) to cover certain expenses.
However, OP's actual best course of action is what has been recommended above. Don't comply and tell the university to handle it's own mistake.

ansoniK 7

In most contracts consideration is required, but agreements to make a donation to charities may be enforced without anything being received in return. That may be what you are remembering from the contracts portion of your business law.

iwantabrother 3

Bummer (not for the OP, bur for me!) I had a $25k scholarship over 4 years (which is a big deal in Canada; it covers your full tuition for 4 years) but I graduated in 3, so I only received 75% of it. Apparently I should have received another 6k or so? I graduated 10 years ago, so I'm assuming it's too late to do anything about it.

Also I guess 10 years after graduation, 6k doesn't seem like a mindblowing amount of money, so I'll be OK either way, although an extra 6k would be very welcome!

EEJR 1

Well that still depends on any fine print, you might have signed something, or the university has explicit policies regarding scholarships.

iwantabrother 2

Sigh. That makes sense. I guess it's not worth it at this point.

qabadai 539

The balance will prevent you from obtaining any official transcript in the future if not resolved

Sounds like this is the most immediate consequences. Not a lot of circumstances you need official transcripts, but it does come up. Their ability to withhold official transcripts is pretty well recognized, unfortunately.

TheFracas 124

Less immediate is they’ll send it to collections if OP ignores it... documentation on the debt may be interesting but they won’t just let it slide.

theoriginalsauce 21

A little late to the party but if they send it to collections would u/justmyluck_tw be able to request validation from the debt collector? This would force the college to prove OP actually owes them money.

TheFracas 12

That would definitely be the first step, but I wouldn’t assume that the college wouldn’t be able to provide some sort of validation that OP received more than they should have from the scholarship. I’m not an expert on what is legally required for “debt validation.”

Eucatari 48

OP made it sound like they are employed already, so hopefully they won't need another official copy before this is sorted out

Coopering 57

Hopefully, yes, but 25 years after my undergrad degree, I needed the transcripts to enroll in a graduate program and further my career.

Eucatari 11

I didnt mean OP should just not do anything, just that if they decide to try and have the debt dropped that they hopefully wont need to transcript until everything is over and decided

lizzistardust 4

Yeah, but this depends on the field OP is going into (some routinely require official transcripts if the degree directly qualifies OP for the job, like in academics or health professions).

But I think OP is additionally worried that it could go to collections and affect his/her credit. Theoretically, I don’t see why it couldn’t of action isn’t take.

KidsWontSleep 223

NAL, but holding your transcript is likely only the first step. They’ll eventually send your “debt” to a collection agency, which will definitely hurt your credit. If it’s a state college/university they could eventually garnish your wages.
Call the director of financial aid ASAP. Provide evidence of your previous confirmation about the $10k, if you have any.
If they don’t resolve it, google the donor and reach out to them. Share your gratitude for how the money helped you afford your last semester and move to find a job. Convince them it wasn’t wasted. No school wants to look bad to their donors!

batcaveroad 33

This is Texas, I don’t think garnishment is likely here as it’s not a student loan.

KidsWontSleep 10

Garnishment for loans is completely different. That happens when someone doesn’t make their payments, and it’s a federal issue. The university got their money, but the loan lender wants their money.

In OPs case, the scholarship money was retracted, which means the university didn’t get paid. The funds went back to the scholarship account to get used for another student. (This absolutely sucks for OP, which is why I gave early tips to pursue.)

State universities will absolutely garnish wages to get their money. Usually this happens because a student just didn’t pay their bill. But, to the bursar’s office, a university bill is just that. State institutions can’t afford to just ignore every debt, and they’ll use every legal method to get every penny they can. Thank your state legislators for cutting state funds to public universities.

UtterlySilent 32

The university will not be able to garnish OP's wages. It's against the Texas Constitution to garnish wages.

Source: I'm in Texas and I've been tasked with collecting judgments for clients before.

KidsWontSleep 5

Excellent news for OP! God bless Texas!

SCCLBR 3

There are other options though. If they obtain a money judgment against OP, they have ways to seize money/assets. They'd have to sue first (unlikely), win (possible), and then find op and enforce against him (will never happen).

Source: I am an attorney and I collect judgments for a State of Texas agency.

UtterlySilent 2

Of course there are other ways to attempt to collect. I'm just talking about wage garnishments

SCCLBR 1

Fair point

batcaveroad 10

I don’t have recent experience here but garnishments are very limited in Texas. As this is a student account balance, not a loan, I do not think this could be garnished, but I don’t know for certain how flexible student loan definitions are.

nclawyer822 71

Someone in the scholarship office (likely the person sending you the wishy-washy explanations) screwed something up and they are now trying to turn their problem into your problem. Gather all of the information you describe above together and escalate to the head of the scholarship department or above until you get resolution. Universities like to cover their sloppy financial record keeping by withholding transcripts, diplomas, etc., just because they can.

jillann16 71

If you still have the paper that states you’re getting the 10k then send a copy to your school showing that you were promised it. I would talk to a lawyer and show them the emails and the letters to see what they say. However, I believe this is on the school. They let it go for a while before doing anything about it. They also sent a letter stating you’re getting the money and then gave you the money. It seems like an error on them.

jillann16 37

Also if you have a lawyer contact them they may give them more information about it then they gave you. I don’t trust schools. I believe they’ll do anything for money even if that means taking back a scholarship after it’s been used.

2_hearted 9

I just left a 10 yr career in higher ed and couldn't agree more. It was ingrained in us the we had to make X profit off of each activity on top of using general student fund money. Nickel and dimed is an understatement.

Ae3qe27u 63

NAL, but it seems like they're in control of your transcript right now. Do you already have an official copy?

Zeus1325 111

An official copy is only really official if it comes direct from the he school in many cases

Eucatari 26

It sounds like OP is already employed, which hopefully means they wont need the transcripts in the near future

watercolourskies 9

Not immediately needed perhaps, but I needed transcripts for grad school 5 years later and then later for a work visa as a skilled professional to another country a decade after that. They had to come directly from the school too.

Eucatari 7

I didnt mean OP should just not do anything, just that if they decide to try and have the debt dropped that they hopefully wont need to transcript until everything is over and decided

syn506 7

You can request sealed-envelope transcripts from most schools - I have ~5 from my undergrad just in case I need any and don't want to have to wait for them to get it sent.

ldkmelon 60

the financial aid office official told you that it would be recieved for that quarter. Thats an agreement and i think that there is a case for you to have the right to that money, mostly depending on how mich proof you have.

However a just graduated student doesnt have much recourse against a college unless the college is very clearly in the wrong. ( speaking financially here, a college has a lot of money to burn in their own defense)

I would recommend what others have said and try to move up the chain of command at the college; even if they still say you owe the five thousand back you may be able to work out a payment plan/ pay back the balance at a later date. Good luck.

And yes unpaid debt could easily hurt your credit score etc. if reported, so i would try to work out something with the college and not just ignore this.

TheGrayishDeath 37

So the right people in the scholarships and financial aid should have pretty broad powers to get this resolved. Unfortunately you will have to find the right person. If you are still in the area go in and try to ework your way up the chain of command.

toaster404 22

This is a fine print / expert type of situation. Find a suitable attorney used to financial aid issues (might take poking around) and get a serious consult with all paperwork in hand. You'll be out of your depth dealing with this.

dca_user 9

Super weird, and be careful. Google for Howard University in Washington, DC. They just learnt that several employees in the Financial Aid office may have been stealing money from needy students for themselves. See if the articles give you some suggestions of you to contact.

Also, reach out to your Senator or Congressman. Most universities receive money from the Federal government and state government - they can't be doing this sort of poor accounting.

CritterTeacher 7

I don’t have advice, I just wanted to say thank you for going to those donor banquets! The photos my grandmother has of them with their scholarship recipients over the years hang proudly in their kitchen.

justmyluck_tw 3

It's awesome that your grandparents donated! People like them really changed donation recipients' lives, with not having to worry about massive amounts of debt, and it's really great that they went to the banquets. I never met any of the donors I received scholarships from because they never went, but I really would have liked to be able to thank them.

CritterTeacher 2

They set up education trusts for all of the grandkids too, they’re awesome folks.

BeerBottleBill 1

The $5,000 should have went back to the scholarship fund. As for them overpaying it was an oversight. I have no idea what you are allowed to do with that money. That's all I could say

thasslehoffer -1

They are entitled to make a mistake.
You will likely need to pay it back. Congratulations on all the great work.

georgeannaclark -3

It sucks, but financial aid always has the disclaimer that if they decide they gave you to much you have to pay it back.

Bob_Sconce -4

Any stipulations on what the scholarship could be used for? I'd be surprised if it could be used for moving and other post-graduation expenses.

SaladAndEggs 9

It's pretty typical for financial aid over the amount owed to go to the student with zero restrictions.

TeslaIsAdorable 6

I got scholarships through a major university in Texas. They apply the money to your tuition/fees/room/board first, and then send you a check for anything left over. I once received $10k in excess of my university bill, and when I inquired as to what to do with it, they said it was my money to spend. There's really no oversight as to what you spend the money on once it leaves the university unless you're outright committing fraud (by, say, taking out loans, then withdrawing from classes to blow the extra money on beer).

SaladAndEggs 2

There's really no oversight as to what you spend the money on once it leaves the university unless you're outright committing fraud (by, say, taking out loans, then withdrawing from classes to blow the extra money on beer).

For Federal Aid, even if you're not intentionally committing fraud in the way that you've described, you still must complete/participate in 60% of the semester or you'll have to repay at least some of the financial aid, even if it's gone towards your tuition. The University must refund the money back to the program it received the aid from & then they'll be calling you to collect.

jillann16 -9

I just graduated college in December and literally my school raised the price of dorms every year so they could afford to make the gym bigger. It was so unfair

apathetichearts 0

Unfair? That’s life. You had the option to live off campus. The gym benefits the students, they can definitely increase costs to find it.

jillann16 0

Literally calm down. It is unfair. Expanding a gym when other buildings are falling apart. The cost of everything increased yearly. Which is unfair. Nothing changed, nothing was added but the prices kept increasing.

apathetichearts 1

Calm down? I’m laughing that an adult is whining about dorm costs being unfair. If you didn’t like it you could have moved. Or organized other students and tried to get the money spent elsewhere.

jillann16 1

I worked in college and didn’t make enough to live off campus so thanks. Sorry I don’t like being charged unnecessarily. I wasn’t the only adult that found it unfair.

apathetichearts 0

Dorm housing is often more expensive unless you’re comparing to a full size house. Most college students not supported by their parents have to rent a room in someone’s house or find other students to split a house with. Well if you weren’t the only one it’s unfortunate you didn’t get together and take it to the university.

downheartedbaby -40

What exactly did the initial letter say? You stated above that you “qualified” for a 10k scholarship which does not mean that you are necessarily getting 10k. Do you have any actual letters that confirm that you were awarded 10k? Or did you just make the assumption based on the 10k showing up on a form? If you had the option to only accept what you needed it would have been wise to only accept 5k.

Edit: not sure how scholarships work, but with loans for financial aid they give you options on how much to accept. If I know I won’t be taking as many classes then I don’t accept all of the money. The money is meant for classes, books, room and board, etc, not for paying for non-school related things. In theory you take what is appropriate for school and reject the rest. If I accept too much then I immediately pay it back on the loan. If you had this option for the scholarship then this would have been the right thing to do. Scholarships are intended for school related purposes. Apologize in advance if scholarships are handled completely different.

Edit: getting downvoted because I’m asking for more information? Downvoting isn’t supposed to be used for when you don’t agree with someone.

Edited again: to include the other school related things that I failed to mention before as it seems this is why people are downvoting me. To clarify, I meant that it seems that scholarships would not be used for relocation purposes.

GlitteringExit 23

Well, I downvoted because your view on scholarships is wrong. Plenty of awards are for any expenses. Class. Books. Room and Board. Etc. You may have a different opinion that it should only be for tuition, but we do not know if OPs award was specific or just a here is 10k award.

MysteryPerker 2

For federal financial aid, the money can only be used for educational expenses, which do include a wide variety of expenses beyond tuition including room and board or transportation. However, considering OP spent money on things not directly related to educational expenses (moving), it would be hard to justify those expenses. Federal financial aid should be used while you are in school to cover the expenses, anything after graduation is not directly related to educational expenses. This is not opinion, it's federal law.

The school will first apply your loan funds to your school account to pay for tuition, fees, room and board, and other school charges. If any additional loan funds remain, they will be returned to you. All loan funds must be used for your education expenses.

I'd also include here that it doesn't sound like OP got federal financial aid since it's from a donor scholarship program, not the federal government. I could be wrong here, with missing information. Federal financial aid rules do not apply if it's not federal financial aid.

downheartedbaby -3

Yes, those things you mentioned are school related things. I said scholarships are not intended for non-school related things. It doesn’t seem that scholarships should be used to relocate, but please correct me if I am wrong.

GlitteringExit 13

Room and board are not technically school related. Additionally, how OP used the money is not relevant here. They are not trying to take it back because it did not go to school expenses.

SaladAndEggs 5

I said scholarships are not intended for non-school related things.

That is entirely up to the donor. You're applying what you know of loans to scholarships when they're not the same thing in any way.

Gnomish8 4

Loans and scholarships are two separate things. When it comes to scholarships, unless otherwise specified, the school gets the money and basically it says,

"This is for NotSoLittleBilly, please make sure this helps with his schooling costs. Love, a generous person/group."

The school then gets first whack at it. They apply that money to your balance and try and zero you out. If you owe them more than the scholarship's worth, then you see $0 of it directly, but your bill is nicer! However, if the scholarship was more than what you owed the school, it's generally turned over to the individual to do with as they please. The smart thing to do would be to apply it to things that the school doesn't credit you for (i.e. room & board, books, food, basic living shit really), but after the school cuts the check, it's yours. Blow it on beer if you want -- again, unless otherwise specified, but pretty uncommon (until we start talking about federal financial aid).

downheartedbaby 0

Thank you for explaining this! I stated in my original post that I don’t know anything about scholarships, but thought if it was accepted in the same way a loan is, then maybe that would be part of OPs problem. Now I understand they are completely different. Thank you for taking the time to explain this instead of just calling it “wrong” and not elaborating like everyone else did.

SaladAndEggs 3

What the previous poster just explained to you also applies to loans as well. Your own example of returning the loan if you get a refund is a smart thing to do as you'll owe less back, but you could just as easily blow that money from a loan refund on beer. It's stupid, but not against the rules.

Enygmachinee 15

That’s exactly what downvoting is for

rkelly74 -4

Eh... typical reddiquette is “does it contribute to the conversation,” not “do I agree with it.”

Enygmachinee 2

Well that’s part of it for sure, but by that logic you can pretty much assume that the poster believes it contributes to the conversation by posting it to begin with, and by downvoting you are also showing your disagreement with that assumption, I suppose.

rkelly74 0

Definitely! I think the point is there is a difference between disagreeing with something that may still be a valid point, and identifying something as incorrect/invalid.

To be clear, I’m not agreeing with what this top commenter said here!

Enygmachinee 0

Ah, I see what you mean.

It’s sort of like you posted “I like the liberal~ party” and got hundreds of downvotes in a conservative~ setting/sub. (Where ~ = any opposing political affiliation, opinion, ETC)

I definitely agree with you. However I still think simple difference of opinion still has a place here in terms of downvoting, for a variety of reasons.